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Robson Sharuko  Senior Sports Editor
WHEN James Anderson bowled Mark Vermeulen at Lord’s on May 23, 2003, for his first Test wicket, the two cricketers probably didn’t know their international careers were about to drift in distinctly contrasting fashion.

For Jimmy, it was the beginning of a journey in which, over the next 17 years, he would transform himself into the first fast bowler to take 600 Test wickets.

For Mark, it was the beginning of an adventure in which, he would be banned in England and Zimbabwe, sucked into a racism storm, after describing blacks as “apes,” and battle mental illness.

While the English pace spearhead has gone on to play 156 Test matches, his first victim only ended up featuring in just nine Tests, scoring 449 runs, at an average of 24.9, including one century and two half centuries.

Vermeulen’s final Test came against South Africa, between August 9-12, in 2014, while Anderson has revealed that, at the age of 38, he wants to keep going and is already eyeing the 700-wicket Club.

Only three bowlers, Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan (800 wickets in 133 matches), Aussie superstar Shane Warne (708 in 145 matches) and Indian great Anil Kumble (619 wickets in 132 matches), have taken more Test wickets than Anderson.

All the other three, Muralitharan, Warne and Kumble are spinners.

The historic 600th wicket fell on Tuesday, on the final day of the rain-ravaged third Test against Pakistan, when Anderson delivered a ball which zipped off the pitch, with a little more bounce, and licked the skin off Azhar Ali’s bat, en-route to Joe Root in the slip cordon.

Kumble was one of the legends to congratulate Anderson on his grand achievements.

‘’Congratulations @jimmy9 on your 600 wickets! Massive effort from a great fast bowler. Welcome to the club,’’ Kumble said on Twitter.

Pakistani legend, Wasim Akram, also hailed the England star.

‘’Champion bowler James Anderson! Congrats on reaching the first-ever 600 wickets for a fast bowler,’’ he said on Twitter. ‘’Hard work, passion and never-say-die approach have been the hallmark of your career… doyen of fast bowlers, best wishes for the rest of your career @jimmy9.’’

Indian skipper and superstar, Virat Kohli, congratulated Anderson for his ‘’outstanding achievement of 600 wickets,’’ describing him as ‘’definitely one of the best bowlers I’ve faced,’’ while Shoaib Akhtar called it ‘’an amazing achievement’’.

Anderson’s 600-wicket Test haul features 11 wickets he got against Zimbabwe, in two matches, at an average of 20.27 with a best show of 5/73 in his debut match at Lord’s.

Vermeulen, his first Test victim, now coaches cricket in schools in South Africa, and yesterday he told Indian cricket writer, Bipin Dani, he was proud of what Anderson has achieved.

“Yes, I have been following Anderson’s career with interest and, absolutely, have no regrets being his first Test wicket,’’ he said.

“It was a good ball which straightened down the slope at Lord’s, hitting the top of middle and off stump. Obviously, I was disappointed at the time but I don’t feel so bad now knowing that he has taken 600 wickets.

“Yes, what an incredible achievement by him reaching 600 Test wickets and to become the first fast bowler to achieve this is truly remarkable.

“He’s done very well to keep fit and playing for this long and I hope that he can get 20 more Test wickets so that he can jump ahead of Anil Kumble and go to number 3 in the all-time wicket takers.’’

Vermeulen fell for one, in that match, at Lord’s 17 years ago and Zimbabwe, who were 48-1 at one stage in reply to England’s 472 first innings score, slumped to 147 all out and were forced to follow on.

In the second innings, Vermeulen top-scored for the Chevrons with an attacking 61, from just 81 balls, and Anderson didn’t take any further wicket (0-65) as the visitors were dismissed for 233 lose by an innings and 92 runs inside three days.

Of course, there is no shame in being dismissed by someone of Anderson’s quality — Sachin Tendulkar fell nine times to the English pace spearhead, Jacques Kallis fell seven times, the same as Kumar Sangakkara.

But, Vermeulen’s career didn’t explode, after that first confrontation with Anderson at Lord’s and, instead, the Zimbabwean found himself having to confront a number of demons.

In 2006, the England and Wales Cricket Board imposed a 10-year ban on him, from featuring in matches under their jurisdiction, after he was involved in an altercation with spectators during a match in the Central Lancashire League.

On appeal, the ban was reduced to three years, with two of those years being suspended.

In January 2008, he was cleared of arson, due to mental illness, after being arrested and tried for burning down the Zimbabwe Cricket Board’s headquarters and Academy in Harare.

He admitted setting the two buildings on fire, three years earlier, but pleaded not guilty to arson on psychiatric grounds, telling the court he suffered from partial complex epilepsy and impulsive behaviour disorder.

Experts said this was a result of the serious injury, a fractured skull, he suffered when he was struck on the head by a ball bowled by India’s Irfan Pathan during the VB Series in Australia in 2004.

He had suffered a similar injury, while practicing, the previous year.

Had he been found guilty, Vermeulen would have faced the possibility of spending 25 years in jail.

Vermeulen then offered to rebuild the academy he had burnt by using a percentage of his earnings of his earnings should he be allowed to play again.

After a comeback into international cricket, in 2015, he was banned from all cricket activities, by Zimbabwe Cricket, for referring to black people as “apes”.

He made the remarks in a Facebook post.